Facebook is again facing a lawsuit over invasion of privacy, this time for allegedly watching Instagram users through unauthorized access to smartphone cameras.
This lawsuit comes on the heels of accusations that the social media company used facial recognition to illegally collect biometric data on Instagram users.
We obtained a copy of the complaint for you here.
In July, there were reports that Instagram was accessing iPhone cameras even when users were not actively using the camera feature. At the time, Facebook denied the allegations claiming it was a result of a bug that was triggering “false” notifications that the photo-sharing app was using the camera. They said they were working on fixing the bug.
The lawsuit resulting from the reports was filed in a San Francisco federal court by an Instagram user from New Jersey, Brittany Conditi.
The complainant argues that Facebook intentionally triggered the unauthorized use of the camera to harvest “lucrative and valuable data on its users that it would not otherwise have access to.”
The lawsuit states that “By obtaining extremely private and intimate personal data on their users, including the privacy of their own homes,” Facebook can harvest “valuable insights and market research.”
In August, it was alleged that Facebook was using facial recognition technology to collect Instagram users’ biometric data. The company denied the allegations stating that Instagram does not have facial recognition features.
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